A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day....03-25-03....Honor Thy Family

Billie

[Billie]

A Few of FR's Finest.....
......Every Day

FR is a Treasure Trove of talented, compassionate, patriotic, wonderful people who gather every day to discuss the latest news and issues; salute and support our military and our leaders;  tell a few jokes;  learn a new word;  write poetry;  pray for those in need;  and congratulate those who are deserving. Thank you, Jim Robinson, for giving us the vehicle in which we can express ourselves.

Free Republic made its debut in September, 1996, and the forum was added in early 1997.   I can remember lurking when there were only a few regulars who posted, and now there are over 60,000 who have registered for posting privileges. The forum is read daily by tens of thousands of concerned citizens and patriots from all around the country and the world.

A Few of FR's Finest November 11, 2001

So many people have written me since my original Veteran's Day Tribute, asking how they, or a loved one, could be included in that tribute. Since I can no longer add the photos to the body of the thread, I've been including them in additional posts as I received enough to make another collage.

Still that doesn't seem to be enough. I think there's never been a better nor more appropriate time to keep the faces of our own Veterans and Active Military in front of FReepers--every day! That's why I wanted to do yet another Daily Thread .....ABOUT FReepers .....and FOR FReepers. But not only about our Military FReepers; for all FReepers! Wouldn't it be nice to get to know a few of the other FReepers as well? That's why, in addition to seeing FR's Finest Military Personnel every day, I thought it might be fun to feature a different FReeper (or FReepers) each day. If you would like to be pictured, or know someone who would, please FReepmail me and we'll turn the spotlight - on YOU - for the day!

And do let me know if you'd like your picture added to the groups of Veterans/Active Military below. I will keep this page updated, and continue to add them to the comment section of the original Veteran's Day thread as well.

<

TOP:  g'nad, AgThorn's son Justin, SLB, AgThorn's son Brett.
MIDDLE:  fish70, razorback-bert, CheneyChick,Leroy S Mort, Mark17.
BOTTOM:  Terry's Take, Taxman, DinkyDau.

TOP:  ValerieUSA's son Grant, SK1Thurman, kd5cts, RangerVetNam,
dansangel and .45man's son-in-law Tony
BOTTOM:  rangerX, Old China Hand, Trish, Howlin's dad, Mustang

TOP: ohioWfan's son, MamaBear's father-in-law, MamaBear's dad, ladtx
MIDDLE:  The Mayor's niece, M.Kehoe, Beach_Babe's son-in-law
BOTTOM:  deadhead's dad, HiJinx, Severa's hubby, viligantcitizen's granddad.

TOP:  spectr17, RightOnline, SERE_Doc, Tet68.
MIDDLE:  FutureSnakeEater, RightOnline's wife, CIApilot, Clamper1797
BOTTOM:  usmcobra, onedoug, DiverDave, Joe6-pack

We now have eleven groups of veterans/active military; we will post each group of three or four twice a week, with thumbnail/links of the remaining seven or eight groups on each thread. Click on any of the thumbnails below to see the group full-size.

         

GROUP 1A: TOP: Logos, SwedeGirl's hubby, Neil E Wright, FallGuy, 1John, Sneakypete MIDDLE:  T'wit, COB1, LadyX, Dick Bachert, 68-69TonkinGulfYatchClub BOTTOM:  YankeeinSC, Delta21, JoeSixPack1

GROUP 2A: TOP:  Bosniajmc, AFVetGal, Archy, A Navy Vet MIDDLE:  4TheFlag, Aeronaut, 68Grunt, Xinga BOTTOM:  Codger, AAABest, Clinton's A Liar, Duke809, dcwusmc

GROUP 3A: TOP:  mc5cents, Norb2569, LBGA's son, VanJenerette MIDDLE:  Jim Robinson, KJenerette, davidosborne, KG9Kid BOTTOM:  gwmoore, Equality7-2521, SAMWolf

GROUP 4A: TOP:  porgygirl, Phil V., MudPuppy, NorCoGOP MIDDLE:  RaceBannon, OneidaM, rdb3, jwTexian BOTTOM:  USMC Vet, TheMayor, Vineyard, rhododogma

      

GROUP 9A: TOP: Q6-God, Scan59, Mama Bear and JKPhoto's son, ofMagog. MIDDLE:  Big'ol_freeper, JustAmy's great uncle, Prodigal Son. BOTTOM:  JustAmy's husband, JustAmy's brother-in-law, JustAmy's brother.

GROUP 10A: TOP: dakine's wife, MeeknMing's dad, Auntbee's nephew, MilitiaMan7, AlasBabylon. BOTTOM:  Joe Brower, Temple Owl, Temple Owl's wife, dutchess' dad, Aomagrat.

GROUP 11A: TOP: ladtx #2 son; DiverDave's twin Don; petuniasevan and husband poorman; Mustard; ladtx #1 son. BOTTOM: AlamoGirl's brother Floyd; AG's dad; AG's brother Jim (inset); WVNan's husband; ladtx' Aunt Eva.

                     

Honor Thy Family
"My motto: Family and Friends are precious gifts
from God, and should always be cherished." ~deadhead

deadhead, in blue and white dress, with some of her family.
Her brother, FReeper jwalsh07 is seated on the left with his wife Linda.
In the center is stepdad Fred, sister Moe and her husband Ed,
and on the far right is her brother Dennis.

"My screen name, deadhead, came to me easily;
I love the music of the Grateful Dead."

Family is very important to today's Finest Freeper; our thread today will more likely resemble a Family Album than a profile of FReeper deadhead (aka Colleen).  When I asked for photos from her, there were surprisingly few of her. Instead, most of them were pictures of members of her family, from her Mom and Dad's wedding, to her great nieces and nephews, to her beloved dog, Lucy. :)

It was Colleen's brother, John (jwalsh07), who introduced her to FR; she became a member on September 29, 2000, choosing the screenname of deadhead.

"I became hooked on politics; the more informed I became the further to the right I moved. Before I knew it, I was volunteering for Rick Lazio's Campaign. I attended a few rallys, always positioning myself so I could shake a politicians hand and say a word or two :-) My sister Moe came to one of the rallys with me; what a great time we had!"

"I had letters to the editors published. Freeping at LIEbermans house is an experience I will never forget. I was yelling "Count the Military Vote"! My voice was being heard and it felt so good."

"I am addicted to the Fox News Network. I enjoy talk radio ... Curtis and Kuby in the morning; Hannity in the afternoon. One day I decided to call Hannity to discuss Gore, and I got through! Even mentioned that I was a Freeper. Sean spoke of his admiration for the DC Freepers. We had a fun chat, and he gave me good air time. :-) ODDITHER heard me on the radio and wrote this thread:

Hey DeadHead, Heard You on Sean Hannity!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Colleen is from a Military family:  her father served in the U.S. Navy, and is pictured in one of our Military groups above; her stepfather was in the U.S. Army-Air Force; brother John and his wife Linda were both in the U.S.Army; brother Dennis served in the U.S. Navy; and a cousin is currently serving in the U.S. Marines. (At last report, his parents had just had their first phone call from him since his deployment, and the troops' morale was high.) At present, Colleen is working on a Care Package Project for the troops; she said it's "coming together nicely." If you would like to help, or to learn more about it, please contact deadhead by FReepmail.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Family Album

I have faith in God. I know my Dad, Mom and brother Gary are looking down from Heaven, smiling and saying, "That's our Freeper Colleen." We were fortunate to have two loving, awesome folks. My brother Gary was one of a kind. Everyone loved him. Gary passed away in 1981, and our hearts are still broken having lost him at such a young age ... I know it has been a long time but he is always in my thoughts.

My Mom and Dad

My brother Gary
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ashley is my great niece. She belongs to John's daughter Chastity. This picture is a few years old, but I love it. Her 'Grateful Dead' outfit was bought especially for her to wear on my birthday; I got such a kick out of it!

My Great-niece Ashley
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meghan is Ashley's sister. Meggie was baptized the weekend after 9/11. It was such an emotional time for all of America, tough getting through the service. Lots of tears in church that day. (This picture was taken on September 1st.) As we drove over the Throgs Neck Bridge, we saw the smoke billowing from what was once the World Trade Towers, and our hearts were broken for those lost.

My Goddaughter Meghan
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Johns daughter Bianca and her husband Dennis (Dennis was in the Marines) are the proud parents of these Bush supporters, Andrew, Alyssa and Derrick.

The triplets
My Great-nephews/niece
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We support President Bush and his administration. It was such a thrill to attend the Inaugural Ceremony and the FRee Republic Inaugural Ball. John posted this thread about it after we returned home.

The Walsh's Go to Washington

We attended the Loudcitizen.com rally at the Supreme Court to show our support for President Bush. Then we were on our way to President Bush's Inaugural Ceremony.

Chastity, John, Ashley, Colleen

At President Bush's Inaugural Ceremony. We were all so happy and proud to be there, even in the rain and cold! From the looks on our faces, the Clintons probably just made an appearance and yes, we couldn't help but BOO them!

Colleen, John, Ashley, Chastity

At the Freeper Inaugural Ball. I am pictured with the criminals from the previous administration. Met many wonderful like-minded people that night; it went all too quickly.

Colleen with HasBeens (thank goodness!)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My sweet dog Lucy at my home. I always fly my flag with pride.

Lucy, Patriot Dog

I hope you have enjoyed this vignette of our Finest FReeper and FRiend, deadhead, of Long Island, New York, as much as I enjoyed putting it together. Colleen is such an upbeat happy person; I don't think I've ever read an unkind word about her, nor have I ever read where she's uttered one about anyone else.

"I am just one of those people who was fortunate to grow up in a family that instilled good values, a family that can laugh, have a good time.*    I still listen to music while I clean the house LOL.... a trait I learned from my Mom. I am the person I am today because of my family, a proud Republican who loves her country :-)..."

  *An example of that is Christmas, 1998, in Connecticut: Colleen, her sister Moe, and Moe's husband had several cutouts of President Clinton in prison stripes. After everyone went to bed, they hung them on the Christmas tree. There were tots of laughs the next morning when the rest of the family woke and saw the tree decorated with one of their least favorite people in the world!

Thank you, deadhead...
...Today's Finest FReeper!

THIS WEEK'S THREADS 03-24-03 Hall of Fame #3

Opinions by our own 'King of Ping' The guy's good, folks!

Thanks, Mixer!

1) Click on the graphic to open the Calendar.
2) Once there you can click on any month and even click to the right to go into next year. Once you are in the month that you joined FR you will need to click on the number in the calendar and then an add item screen will come up.
3) In the next box enter your name in the "Calendar Text" field and then click on submit.
4) If any of the screens fail to load simply click on refresh in your browser and that will usually fix it.
5) If all else fails or simply if you want me to do this for you send me a FReepmail and I will gladly do it for you. ~Mixer

[Dubya]

Thanks. The Tall Texan puts some good ones together.

[daisyscarlett]

Dr. Laura got a poignant phone call the other day from a Mom whose son is "over there". His beloved pet dog had recently died and she was wondering what to tell her son as he always asked in letters about his dog and she did not want to upset him but on the other hand, did not want to lie to him.

Dr. Laura told her not to tell him, that he has enough to worry about "over there" just staying safe. She told her to skirt around the question and say general things like "all is well here".

After many, many Marines were deployed last month in a town near me, it was reported on the t.v. that many service men and women had to turn over their pets to the Humane Society....A plea went out asking folks to consider adopting these pets so they would not have to euthanized and the response was overwhelming.

Karen and Randal Allen and their son Benjamin, Saturday, March 15, 2003 in Alexandria, Va., have come up with an emergency plan for people and their pets in case of a terrorist attack. Pictured with the Allen's are their dogs Lily and Sparky. Bowls, toys, food, water, a first aid kit and dog beds are some of the items they've gathered. (AP Photo/Adele Starr)

[Dubya]

Navy families resort to TV rationing

[dansangel]

I've seen what you do to guys who scare you. LOL

Yikers! I wasn't aware I had a photographer following me....must have been one of those "Private Eye" types.

OK, now that my alter-ego has been exposed, I'll have to switch to some other method of self-defense.

Do ya think this'll work?

[LadyX]

Hey, You!

- Remove your hands from the keyboard!
- Shove back the chair.
- Turn toward the monitor and repeat after me:

This is the apology I owe you, Colleen, for _________________________________ - -

Continue to fill in that moving blank until this screen is filled - or whenever Colleens laughs, whichever comes first..:))

We think your sister is great; therefore you must be also.

( That's me, of course, with flowers for Colleen -
The Welcome is for you )

[deadhead]

"I have long been an admirer of your Home Page tribute to your Father and his military background and was pleased to feature it in a past Finest Profile Pages...."

Thank You so much daisy. I hope Billie doesn't mind me saying my Thank You's to all with adding this picture.

You have all made this day so special, I will never forget it.

That's my dear Dad in the lower left corner.

GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS

~~~Colleen~~~

[dansangel]

Colleen: I wish I had a picture of my Dad in his WWII Navy uniform. I'll have to borrow it from him and scan it into my computer. He could be your Dad's brother....pompadour and all! :-)

Glad you have enjoyed your day. I'm off to wind down and then bed to prepare for my early wake-up tomorrow.

G'nite all! {{{{{{{{{{HUGS}}}}}}}}

[jwalsh07]

I think she's great too and so does my daughter since she made her Godmother to my granddaughter Meggy, a hellion if ever their was one. She takes after her Grandpa.

[deadhead]

hehehe

This is the apology I owe you, Colleen, for _________________________________ - -

Yea, I remember when I was 10 and .......and John tried to steal food from my plate!

He still does this to all family members LadyX, and then he puts ketchup on it, no matter what it is hehehe

[deadhead]

"a hellion if ever their was one. She takes after her Grandpa.

Yes, Meggie has spunk...just like her grandpa. And Ashley has the rally mode, been freeping since she was a wee one. And the triplets, they all support President Bush :-)

[daisyscarlett]

Thanks for adding that collage of our original Finest...those who served our country. Someone did that the other day (I think LadyX) and it added much to the thread.

[jwalsh07]

Yea, I remember when I was 10 and .......and John tried to steal food from my plate!

I needed my strength to protect my siblings from the rabble in the neighborhood. I still do although since I got you that 20 gauge you should be taking care of yourself.

And quit badmouhting ketchup, it's unAmerican.

[LadyX]

"many service men and women had to turn over their pets to the Humane Society...."

Things we don't usually think about - and this one is heartbreaking, daisy.

In May of 1968 when I was teaching school on Myrtle Beach AFB, some of us wives whose husbands were deployed to Southeast Asia had been allowed to remain in the Base Housing we already occupied.

The Pueblo Crisis had happened, though, and necessitated activating a Reserve Unit, and some 300 of us were sent letters to VACATE, immediately.

Imagine Myrtle Beach in May with places for rent for the entire summer already nailed down a year ahead or too high priced to consider on military pay!

Many were able to go somewhere to 'home,' but I didn't have that option any longer, and my husband was due back 7 October - hard to rent something short term. I (the week I turned 34) went out to scour for an abode, hauling my three children, then 14, and almost 13 and almost 6. Looked at some really bad places before stumbling on a place right next to the South Gate that was a trailer park with a few ancient duplex units - two tiny bedrooms, tiny living room and kitchen, one bath - all in sad shape with no air conditioning.

(Now replaced with a huge shopping center, and the base in civilian hands, leased out on a yearly basis.)

We, dog and all, were fortunate to secure the only one of the latter available - move - and have white glove inspection of the base housing - while I was still working. After school was out, I slept late while it was relatively cool, and spent many a summer day at the base pool .

The boys (although underage!) then found work at Bell's #1 hamburger stand by the roller coaster downtown, and I hauled them back and forth.
The manager was a retired Tech Sergeant who understood our monetary plight - gave the boys all they could eat when at work, and when Jennifer and I arrived to get them, insisted on giving us a sack with all the cheeseburgers and French - oops - Freedom fries left over.

It got so bad even the DOG turned up his nose when he was given his share!
LOL

The men and women in uniform are not the only ones who had Survival Training....ours was on the job - on the fly.

[deadhead]

"I still do although since I got you that 20 gauge you should be taking care of yourself.

Yes, and I should have LadyX teach me how to become a master marksman (woman)

"And quit badmouhting ketchup, it's unAmerican."

LOL

I am so glad you got to stop in John, I know you are always so busy working

[LadyX]

F O O D * * * F I G H T !!!!!!

[jwalsh07]

Wow! That thread is really something! I'm very impressed!
Your sister-in-law Linda

[deadhead]

Thanks Linda :-) I just love that all these pictures of our family were in the presentation. All the wonderful words that everyone has written is so special. I am impressed with the work that Billie did. Please share it with Chastity and Bianca.

[LadyX]

Flowers for Linda:

[deadhead]

Hi LadyX, here is a picture of Linda, John and Ashley at a "Support Our Troops" rally in a small town in Ct. last week.

I snatched this from Racebannon...SHHH

[Billie]

Goodnight, Lovely Ladies and Gentlemen - thanks to all and to all a goodnight. :)